My family has always grown Bodacious. It's a sweet corn, thats easy to grow, with good production.

Heres a little about it..

'Bodacious' is generally mature within 80 to 90 days. Plants produce 8 inches sugar enhanced (SE/se) ears with tender kernels. Good for corn on the cob and freezing.

Below is a link for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bodacious Corn

Paula,

I've grown many varieties over the years and have yet to find a variety of corn that does not grow well here or that does not have great production and great flavor, so it all comes down to what you like.

If you like the flavor of the supersweet or triplesweet corn varieties, you can't go wrong with any of them and we especially like Serendipity, Kandy Korn, Honey Select, How Sweet It Is, Sugar Buns and Honey and Pearl.

TRIPLESWEET VARIETIES: Of those I listed above, Honey Select and Serendipity both are Triplesweet hybrids, meaning they have the good original corn flavor (often missing in supersweets), sweetness, and a crunchier texture and they don't require isolation from other types.

SUPER SWEET VARIETIES: How Sweet It Is and Honey and Pearl are Super Sweet varieties which means they have been bred for sweet flavor that is roughly twice the sweetness of regular sweet corn and in the process (in my opinion) have lost some of the corny flavor. They must be isolated from other corn types by 200 feet or by 14 days.

SUGAR ENHANCED VARIETIES: Sugar Buns and Kandy Korn (like the Bodacious corn variety that Boomer Sooner mentioned above) are Sugar Enhanced varieties that have been bred to be somewhat sweeter than regular sweet corn and they hold that sweetness longer than regular sweet corn does. They do not require isolation.

I haven't mentioned any regular sweet corns yet. These are the types we all grew up eating (along, perhaps, with field corn eaten as roasting ears). These are sweet when freshly picked and eaten but their sugars convert to starches very quickly, so you have to cook and eat them shorly after harvesting, or freeze them shortly after harvesting so the sugars cannot all convert to starch. In this category, our favorite modern hybirds are Silver Queen, which we've grown for many years, and Early Sunglow which is a small, compact plant that produces VERY early here. If I plant Early Sunglow the last week in March, I am harvesting it by Memorial Day.

HEIRLOOM TYPES: There are many heirloom types available that are great for fresh eating or freezing, but you do have to cook and eat or blanch and freeze quickly as I mentioned above with the regular sweet corn. In this category, our favorites are Shoepeg Corn (aka Country Gentleman) and Texas Honey June. This year I'm growing Texas Honey June and Black Aztec. Black Aztec can be eaten at the milk stage as a sweet corn or left to mature for grinding into corn meal.

If you are going to use corn in a Three Sisters garden, you're better off going with a field, flour or dent corn with very sturdy and very tall stalks because pole beans can bring down the stalks of regular sweet corn or can pull the ears right off the corn.

Dawn

Well - I found the Early Sunglow and the Kandy Korn....but no Bodasious or Honey Select. Somebody remind me come New Years Eve when I'm pouring over the seed catalogs to order those??? ha!

We wsent to Atwoods and Lowes both today. I've got to say that the Atwoods here in Norman had a HUGE variety of almost everything, except jalapenos. They had already sold out of them. Their supply is also Red Dirt, which is grown in Guthrie.....not that bonnie brand. I bought another kind of okra so now I'll have 4 types in th garden. I also bought 2 Black Krim tomatoes and a Snow Globe tomatoe. I've still got over 90 different seedlings that haven't found a home in my garden or with friends, so Heaven only knows what I was thinking. Also found Giant Marconi peppers. Each of these were only 89 cents and very very healthy plants. Since I'll have to make room for these newbies, I'll have a few more to offer at the Swap!

Paula

I have grown Black Aztec and Supai Red Parching Corn. I didn't get any ears from the black aztec last year because of the corn earworms so I have no idea how it tastes. The parching corn is a lot of fun! It got about 5 feet tall in my garden so not tall enough to support beans. But the kernels are beautiful and I can just put them in my air popper until they puff up a little and they are really tasty! I think you're technically supposed to roast them on a skillet but I always burned them. It is an heirloom corn that the Native Americans grew so you'll need to keep it separated from other types. The DTM is 105-115 days. I can bring you some seeds at the swap if you want to try it.

p-mac, Ellison feed and seed had bodacious last year, this year I got it from Sunrise Acres in Blanchard.

Also, their are a lot of plants for sale at the Farmers market in Norman.

Tigerdawn - I'd love to try it if you have a few to spare! Do I have to be care of cross-pollination?

BoomerSooner - thanks! I always forget about Ellison's for some reason. We got our sweet potatoe slips at Sunrise Acres last year and I forgot about them too. I didn't realize that Sunrise had seeds. I'll check them out!

Paula

If you want to save seeds you need to protect them from pollinating with other corn. I don't think it matters if you just want to eat it though. How much space do you have for the corn?

For the last several years the only sweet corn I've grown has been Gotta Have It from Gurney's. I've grown several in the past. Last year myself and a few other growers I know who bought seed from Gurney's had terrible germination. Even in June after it had warmed up. Gotta Have It is one that requires very warm soil. So this year trying some new varieties from some other sources. A few that are supposed to have good cold soil tolerance for sweet corn. Honey Select being one of them. Then 3 of the Mirai series and two types from the Xtra Tender series. They have all came highly recommended. So will see how they perform here. We are very picky about our sweet corn. Not that many that we like. Most do well here. There are a few exceptions. A few don't seem to take the heat and stress as well as others. I do grow mainly hybrids. I also grow one variety because it gets 7-9 foot tall. Which works well for a wind break for the tomoatoes planted north of it. Jay

um...space? LOL!! We're on 2 1/2 acres and our gardening space(s) add up to over 3600 square feet!! (yes, I'm crazy). It's divided into 3 different areas. DH is beginning to like it because the more garden space we have, the less he has to mow!
I'm planning to put the corn in the new 38x60 area so I think I can adjust my plantings to keep it a few feet from the other 2 I'm going to try this year...just in case I decided to keep the seed. I've never grown corn...but I've fallen prey to the enablers on this site.

but I've fallen prey to the enablers on this site. I'm sure you must mean Carol and Dawn. At least they are the only professional ones. A few like myself might be guilty but we're nothing but mere amateurs. LOL.

You can stagger your planting and use varieties with different maturity dates which will help also. Jay

Yeh, sure!!!

Carmichaels in Bixby has Honey Select and Conrads in Bixby has Bodacious. It's pretty expensive, but they have some small packages for $.99 if you want to sample it.

This board is amazing! Soooo much good information. Thanks, Dawn, for that post.

Scott,

You're welcome.

There's a lot of confusion among home gardeners about the different types of corn available, so I thought I'd at least mention that in addition to heirloom and OP types, there's the sugar enhanced, super sweet and triple sweet types. The thought that super sweets require isolation scare off some home gardenrs from growing those types, but I have grown super sweets within 50' of other types relying only on time isolation so they aren't tasseling at the same time, and I've never had any problems.

The first time someone grows a super sweet type after only growing regular sweet corn, they're convinced they have found the best variety of corn ever and won't even try another variety. Truthfully, though, there are many, many wonderful super sweet and triple sweet varieties so I try not to limit myself and get in a rut of planting the same one over and over again. My friend, Fred, will only plant Kandy Korn and doesn't see why I want to grow other types. lol

Because Paula asked about favorite corns, I tried to mention a few but didn't even mention, really, the wide variety of field, dent and flour corns, ornamental corns, broom corns and popcorns. If I had more space that was fenced in, I'd grow a lot of each. Instead, I squeeze ornamental-foliage corns into the tropical-looking beds around the lily pond and plant ornamental decorative corns (for ears for autumn decorations) late after my sweet corns have pollinated. I use broom corn in a three sisters garden sometimes because it gets huge. One year I grew a package of mixed colors broom corn along with Seminole pumpkins and the ornamental Purple Hyacinth Bean vine. Because the broom corn grows to about 12' tall and the hyacinth bean vine climbed all the way to the top, it literally stopped traffic.

My grandfather always grew popcorn when I was a little kid, and I always thought his popcorn was better than popcorn from the stores. I have no idea what kind he grew in the 1960s, and wish I did. I've never grown a popcorn that tasted as good as his.

If you want to grow a corn that will impress the kids, Jade Blue starts out with greenish corn kernels that ripen to dark blue. Ruby Queen produces red kernels (harvest when the yellow kernels are blushing red for the best SE flavor, or let it turn darker red for a more corny flavor). Red Stalker produces green and red stalks for autumn decorations. Chinese Quadricolor aka Striped Maize foliage looks more like bamboo leaves than corn. Chires baby corn produces many ears per stalk. I think growing corn is fun.

Dawn

The one thing I feel that needs to be stressed when trying different types is pay very close attention to what soil temps the package says.Although the warmer the better applies to all sweet corn some are way more tolerant of cooler temps than others. Some of the new varieties especially require soil temps in the 65-70 degree range. When researching varieties to try this year I found one that said 75 degrees or higher soil temp. The ones I'm planting now say at least 55 and I'm in the 60's. The others I will grow this year say at least 65. They will be the last I plant. In late May or early June. Every year I have someone ask me why they had such poor sweet corn germination. The first reaction is too always blame the seed. Usually when I tell them to go look at their seed packet they see they planted them in soil too cool. I call it the "shorts syndrome". Warm, calm days and everyone can wear their shorts so time to plant something. Just like 7-10 days ago. I'm now hearing stories about all the nipped and dead plants everyone has now. That they carried home and planted during the 80 degree days. What many forget is that soil temp lags behind air temps. And also the warm days this time of year don't last long. So just because it is 80 degrees doesn't mean it is time to plant some sweet corn, okra, transplant peppers, ect. But I'm like everyone. Can't wait for the first ear of sweet corn, that first tomato, ect. So I end up pushing it a little every year. Just like the sweet corn I planted this week. I think it will germinate fine. May get nipped or stunted by a late freeze but worth the gamble to me. When pushing the limit just realize there is a chance of failure. Jay

I used to grow Early Sunglow for the early crop and Royal Gold for the main crop. Then my father retired, moved back here and grew Kandy Korn. After that I had to grow Kandy Korn because the kids wanted it. Last year somebody gave DH some Peaches and Cream which we grew, and it was good, but not as productive as KK so this year bact to KK.

We're not as adventurous as Jay and Dawn. When we find something that works we stay with it. This year though, George shared some Mesquakie Indian Corn with me and I am going to plant that late, for meal, after the KK is well up and halfgrown.